The Long And Winding Road
by Kjc13
Summary: A collection of oneshots, all centering on Ron and Hermione, prompted by Lolaaaa's Speed Writing challenge on HPFC.


"One . . . two . . . three . . . _open_."

As soon as he heard the Parseltongue word, the locket clicked open. And when the locket opened, he found himself looking into Tom Riddle's disembodied eyes. He froze, staring into the locket and the eyes, only moving when he heard the curiously foggy command to "stab." _Stab? Right, the locket. The eyes. No! The Horcrux. It must be destroyed._ He raised the sword shakily, trying to stay focused, but again he found himself staring at it instead. Then, as if he needed further distraction from destroying it, he heard a voice emanating from . . . the eyes themselves, it seemed.

"_I have seen your heart, and it is mine."_

Somewhere, far, far away, his rational brain and Harry were yelling at him to ignore the voice, but he couldn't. He was entranced.

"_I have seen your dreams, Ronald Weasley, and I have seen your fears. All you desire is possible, but all that you dread is also possible . . ."_

This time he didn't even hear Harry's shout, he just stood, unable to move, and the only thing left in his mind was fear of what the voice would say, when it spoke again.

"_Least loved, always, by the mother who craved a daughter . . . Least loved, now, by the girl who prefers your friend . . . Second best, always, eternally overshadowed . . ."_

Horror—struck, he raised the sword, determined that the voice, the evil voice, be silenced. But no—he yelled in shock as the grotesque, distorted heads of Harry and Hermione bloomed out of the locket's two windows. He was bolted to the ground, his eyes glued to the locket-heads, the fulfillment of his fears. The locket-Hermione spoke,

"_Why do you continue to plague us? We told you then, and will continue until you are gone forever. We don't want you, don't love you. You didn't believe me when we said don't return, didn't believe me when I said we were best being friends—as if we are even that anymore. You didn't believe it when we said we were dating, in love, and now, engaged. Will you ever listen? Will you believe it when we're married? When we have children, and name none of them after you, the poor lonely has-been bachelor friend? I don't love you. I never have, and never will. I don't love you . . ."_

"No, no, please . . . I love you . . . don't leave me . . . please . . ." Ron mumbled in his sleep, unable to escape his nightmare. Before the nightmare could continue, however, Harry ran into the room and leaned over the bed, shaking him. "Ron! Ron! Wake up, mate!" Wake up!" Harry shook Ron again, but was quickly thrown out of the way as he awoke, sitting bolt upright and yelling.

Harry and Ron were very used to each other's nightmares, and so Harry knew exactly what to do. He sat on the side of the bed and grabbed Ron's shoulder, speaking quickly and quietly.

"Hey! It was a dream, alright?" Just a dream. We're here, in our apartment. You're getting married tomorrow. Hermione loves you, and has since you were both about twelve. You're okay. Right?"

Ron, now awake, nodded slowly. Slowly regaining the power of speech, he mumbled, "It was . . . Hermione . . . in the . . . in the Horcrux . . . the locket . . . just like . . . like when it told me my fears then . . . it did again . . . Are you sure? That she loves me? She wanted to leave me . . ."

Ron would never be so open about his fears in the light of day, but Harry knew this dream was particularly painful for him, and coupled with it being his wedding day, the fears were particularly strong. "It was just a dream, mate. Really. Hermione loves you more than anything else in the world. You're gonna wake up again in a few hours and go marry her. But now, you have to get some sleep. Wouldn't want a zombie bridegroom, would we?"

Ron finally relaxed, slumping back on the pillows. Grinning slightly, he said, "Yeah. George would never let me live it down, would he?" With that, he turned over and fell back asleep.

Harry grinned too, and got up. Nightmares weren't too bad, at least when you had a friend to help you through them. As he walked out the door, he murmured, "No, he definitely wouldn't."

**I don't own anything recognizable. The dream is based on the scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, chapter 19, pages 375-376 in my edition. Some of the text is used. This story is the beginning of a collection of Ron and Hermione oneshots I'm writing for Lolaaaa's Your Favourite Couple: Scenarios Challenge/Competition Speed Writing. The first prompt was "Person A is engaged to someone else. Person B tries to win them over." I also included the original first prompt, which was, one person telling the other they don't love them. If the intended prompt came over a bit weak, the other was definitely there. Thanks for reading, please review **


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